Building
Green Communities
TEI Environmental Lecture Series
Fall 2008
Building green communities is the theme of our
fall 2008 TEI Environmental Lecture Series. The interdisciplinary
series will kick off on September 25 with a double feature
by an architect and builder focusing on sustainable housing
design and prefabrication respectively. October's featured
lecture will look at building sustainable cities for a carbon
scarce future and will be followed by two public lectures in
November addressing life cycle analysis and LEED, and green
energy and reconfiguring the North American power
grid for the future. Check the schedule for
our featured speakers and more details.
Hosting departments this fall include Art + Architecture, Dept.
of Art, Dept. of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning,
Building Materials and Wood Technology Program, and the Dept.
of Natural Resources Conservation. The series cosponsors include
the Vice Provost for Research, the Graduate School, and the
Colleges of Natural Resources and the Environment, Natural
Sciences and Mathematics, Engineering, Social and Behavioral
Sciences, Public Health Sciences, and Humanities and Fine Arts.
(More Information)
Sustainability
Greening the UMass Campus
Below are links showcasing green initiatives happening on
the UMass Amherst campus.
UMass Green Initiatives
The
Chancellor's Charge
Green campus reports from OAF
Initiatives
in Energy and Water Conservation, Recycling and Green Building
Green
Building and New Campus Construction Update
New
Master's in Green Building
Focus-UMass
Spring 2008 events to bring
attention to global warming and other climate issues.
Pioneer
Valley Sustainability Network
UMass/PVPC project funded by EPA promoting sustainability in
Western Massachusetts.
August 4-6, 2008
Hotel Northampton, Northampton
MA.
Institute in Drinking Water
Treatment
The course should be of interest to those dealing with water
supply and treatment. It is intended for consulting engineers
and scientists; water utility personnel including superintendents,
managers, and operators from moderate size and larger utilities;
engineers and scientists from state and federal water regulatory
agencies; and engineers and scientists from industries related
to drinking water treatment. Fundamentals and applications
are covered in the course as well as current issues focusing
on the Long Term Enhanced Surface Treatment Rule, the Disinfectants-Disinfection
By-Products (D-DBP) Rule, Enhanced Coagulation for Removal
of TOC and DBP Precursors, Control of Cryptosporidium, and
UV Disinfection.
(More Information)
(Brochure)
August 10-13, 2008
Amherst, Massachusetts
2008 IWA North American Membrane Research
Conference
The scarcity of clean water represents a global threat to
society, equal to or greater than that of oil resources. A
range of factors are responsible for this shortage, including
population growth in arid regions, and contamination of surface
and groundwater supplies. Membrane technologies can be used
to provide both short and long term solutions to these problems
by providing clean water from low quality sources. (More
Information)
WRRC Interactive Databases
Acid
Rain Monitoring Project: Interactive Database
The database represents the full water chemistry record beginning
with the start of the project in March 1983. Samples were collected
monthly from 1983 to 1984, semiannually from 1985 and 1986,
and quarterly from 1986 to 1993. Current samples are collected
semiannually. More than 40,000 records from nearly 5,600 lakes
and streams are contained in the database. (More)
Stormwater Technologies
Clearinghouse
Search BMPs by keyword or do an advanced search by manufacturer,
pollutant treated, verification rating, BMP category, application
type, or any combination of the above. (More)
Top of Page |
Focus on Faculty Research
Geobacters Cleanup Groundwater
Contaminated with Uranium
Katie Huston for TEI
 Twenty-one
years ago, Derek Lovley discovered Geobacters,
novel anaerobic organisms that gain energy from iron oxides.
Today, he’s as excited about working with them as ever. “[Geobacter]
is just so darn interesting,” he says. “It does
so many interesting things. Lovley, a Distinguished
University Professor of Microbiology, first isolated
Geobacters in the Potomac River downstream from Washington,
D.C., in 1987 while working at a federal government lab. Since
then, he’s discovered numerous applications, including
bioremediation of polluted groundwater and harvesting electricity
from organic waste.
(Complete Article)
Economic Approaches to Managing Natural Resources
Katie Huston for TEI
 John
Stranlund was drawn to economics because of his passion for
the environment.
“Economics looked like a promising avenue for me to study
environmental issues,” he says. “I cared about
the environment and development before I cared about economics.
In fact, without the environment and development aspect, I’m
not sure I would be an economist.” Today, Stranlund
is a professor in the Department of Resource
Economics where
he’s been on the faculty since 1993. His current research
takes two distinct directions, ranging from the effectiveness
of environmental regulation in the developed world to resource-sharing
and government intervention in small fishing villages in Colombia.
(Complete Article)
Using Bioremediation to Treat Pollutants
in the Environment
Katie Huston for TEI
 Sarina
Ergas knows that small organisms can make a big
difference. Ergas, an Associate Professor in the Department
of Civil and Environmental Engineering,
specializes in bioremediation, a process of using microorganisms
to biodegrade toxic compounds to non-toxic substances to
reduce pollutant concentrations in the environment. “We
have microorganisms that we find can carry out some particular
process that we want them to carry out, and then what we
have to do is figure out what their needs are,” she
says. “We can’t just make them do our
bidding. We have to get on their agenda. Microorganisms don’t do this altruistically.
They only want one thing: to grow and create more bacteria.”
(Complete
Article)
Health and Sustainable
Food Systems
Katie Maginnis for TEI
 When
discussing issues of food security and sustainability, many
people mention the phrase “think globally, act locally.” This
may be a good place to start, but it’s more complicated
than that, says Kalidas Shetty, Professor
of Food Science. In order to create more sustainable
food systems, we need to take an integrative approach. As Shetty
explains, “What we’re seeing already is that food,
health, energy, environment, and of course water and sanitation – they
all connect. If we don’t understand that, we cannot address
the issue.” (Complete Article)
International Relations
and Environmental Decision Making
Katie Huston for TEI
 When
it comes to the environment, Peter M. Haas of
the Department of Political Science is looking
at the big picture. Haas specializes in international relations
with a focus on environmental issues, examining the contributions
of various political actors such as scientists, international
organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the
private sector to create effective international governance.
(Complete Article)
New Processing Technologies
for Biomass Production
Katie Huston for TEI
 Scientists
and engineers around the globe are searching for solutions
to global warming and dependence on foreign oil and rising
fuel prices. George Huber, Assistant Professor
of Chemical Engineering, says part of the
solution to replacing petroleum oil is cellulosic biomass. “Everything
we use petroleum for, we’ll be using biomass for in the
future,” he says. (Complete
Article)
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